Friday, February 10, 2017

Strawberry Sugar Cookies



I often see recipes for strawberry cookies, and they inevitably use a strawberry cake mix to impart the strawberry flavor. While I don’t mind using a cake mix occasionally, I prefer not to. How hard should a strawberry cookie be? I guess it is harder than I thought! Fresh strawberries can be used in a bar cookie, but they have so much moisture in them that they can be tricky. I came across this recipe, and thought they looked and sounded great.

The original recipe uses strawberry powder, which isn’t something that you can find easily at the store. I could order it online, but it was expensive and I wasn’t sure what else I would do with strawberry powder. We were at Trader Joe’s and I found freeze dried strawberries. I was hopeful that they would pulverize and would work in this recipe. They processed up beautifully, which was great.

The dough has a lovely pink hue, which fades slightly after baking. I suppose you could add food color to make these a brighter pink, but I like the pale blush of these cookies. The strawberry flavor is subtle, although my husband says that the dough has a stronger strawberry flavor. This cookie has the nicest texture, soft and chewy. In a way, they remind me of a non-cinnamon sugar snickerdoodle, which is a favorite cookie of mine!

Strawberry Sugar Cookies
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 ½ cups sugar
2 ½ tablespoons strawberry powder*
2 eggs
Additional sugar or sanding sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt; set aside. In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter and sugar. Beat on medium until light, about 4 minutes. Add the strawberry powder and mix to combine. Add the eggs and beat on medium for two minutes. Scrape down the bowl. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture, stirring just until combined.

Using a medium cookie scoop, scoop the dough into the prepared baking sheets, then rolling into balls about 1-1/4” in diameter. Roll the balls in sugar.

Bake for 9-11 minutes, until cracked on the top. They will be soft, but will firm up as they cool. Cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

*Strawberry powder is sold on Amazon , but I bought freeze-dried strawberries at Trader Joe’s and pulverized them in the food processor.

Recipe from Chris from The Café Sucré Farine, via Melanie Makes

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